author
William Strunk
1869–1946
Best known for the little handbook that became The Elements of Style, this longtime Cornell English professor helped shape how generations of readers and students think about clear writing.
1 Audiobook
The Elements of Style
by William Strunk
About the author
Born in Cincinnati in 1869, William Strunk Jr. studied at the University of Cincinnati and later earned his Ph.D. at Cornell University. He went on to spend much of his career teaching English at Cornell, where he became known for his direct, practical approach to writing and usage.
Strunk is remembered above all for writing The Elements of Style, first prepared for his students in 1918. After his former student E. B. White revised and expanded it, the book became widely famous as “Strunk & White” and turned Strunk into one of the most influential voices in American writing instruction.
He died in Ithaca, New York, in 1946. Even though his own prose guide began as a compact classroom manual, its advice on clarity and concision has remained part of the conversation about good writing ever since.